Ask the Chatbot Games & Quizzes History & Society Science & Tech Biographies Animals & Nature Geography & Travel Arts & Culture ProCon Money Videos
Physical Geography
References
Britannica AI Icon

Physical Geography

work by Somerville
Written by
The Information Architects of Encyclopaedia Britannica

The Information Architects maintain a master list of the topics included in the corpus of  EncyclopƦdia Britannica, and create and manage the relationships between them.
The Information Architects of Encyclopaedia Britannica
Last updated

Quick Summary

Physical geography is the study of the Earth's exterior physical features and changes. Mary Somerville, a prominent British science writer, authored Physical Geography in 1848. This work was the first English textbook on the subject and became highly influential.12

Somerville's approach in Physical Geography disregarded political boundaries, viewing humanity as one inhabitant of the globe among others, influencing and being influenced by the environment. Despite initial discouragement from the publication of Alexander von Humboldt's Kosmos, Somerville's book was well-received, with six editions published during her lifetime. She was awarded the Patron's Medal of the Royal Geographical Society for her work.2

Summary created from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles.
2 Britannica Sources
  1. physical geography
  2. Mary Somerville

Ask Britannica AI about this topic

Britannica doesn't have a full article on this topic, so we've curated a list of our relevant coverage.